Hydrocarbon oil conversion



G. EGLOFF NVERSION Sept. 1, 1931.

HYDROCARBON OIL CO Filed Dec. '7, 1925 lu'z ineas: 271 1 6/1602: (l-uafaz (off Patented S ept. 1,1931

UNITED STATES, PATENT OFFICE GUSTAV EGLOFF, or cnIcAeo, rumors; ASSIGNDR TO UNIVERSAL on; rnonuors comrnnmor cmcxeo, nmmoxs, A. conronerron GEL/SOUTH DAKOTA HYDROCARBON on. oonvnnsron .lpplication filed December residue.

, The invention further contemplates cracking said reflux separately in the same system, and also contemplates the cracking of said residuum separately in the same system, all

as part of a continuousprocess.

Manyother objects and advantages will be immediately apparent from the following description.

The single figure in the drawing is adiagrammatic side elevational view, partly in vertical section, of my apparatus.

In the drawing, the raw charging stock from any suitable source of supply is introduced through the inlet line 1, controlled by valve 2, and forced by means of the pump 3 into a continuous elongated heating tube 4 mounted in the furnace 5, where it is heated to a conversion temperature, as will be hereinafter more particularly explained. This heated charging stock passes through the transfer line 6,00nt10lled by valve 7, discharging into the enlarged expansion cham ber 8, which may be placed in a vertical or horizontal plane, as desired, and which may or may not be externally heated, as desired. The expansion chamber 8 may be insulated to prevent the radiation of heat.

The heated oil introduced through the line 6'into the chamber 8 will partially vaporize, and the separated, vapors will be removed through the vapor line 9, in which is interposed the valve 10. The vapor line 9 may introduce the vap ors into the dephlegmator 11, where they travel upwardly, being 59 tarded by the baflles or bubble plates The present invention, in brief, comprises 7, 1925. Serial No. 73,592.

These vapors, in their upward travel, may be cooled by contact with any suitable cooling medium which may be introduced thereto, such-as a part of the raw oilwhich may' be introduced through the inlet line 13' controlled by valve 14, and in which is inter posed a pump 15.

The uncondensed vapors,- after passing 'through the dephlegmator 11, may be with-' awn through the line 13, in which is interposed the throttle valve: 14, and cooled and condensed in the condenser coil 15 set in condenser box 16. These condenser vapors may pass through the line 17, controlled by valve 18 and collected in receiver 19. This receiver may be provided with the incondensible gas relief pipe 20, controlled by valve 21, and with the liquid draw-off 22, cont-rolled by valve 23. understood that a portion'of the liquid collected in the receiver 19 may be diverted and returned to the dephlegmator, if found desirable to control the temperature therein, or for the production of a product of a desired 'end boiling point. The liquid reflux It is, of course,

condensate collecting in-the dephlegmator 11 may be drained into the reflux line-24, in which is interposed the valve 25, and may be diverted, either in part or totally, through the line 26, in which is interposed the valve 27, it being understood, of course, that as apreferred form of operation, the major portion of the reflux condensate will be always I returned, as will 'be now explained, instead of being diverted through the pipe 26.

The refluxcondensate which is not diverted through fthe pipe 26 continues to flow through a continuation 24 of the pipe 24,

controlled by-valve 25', passing through the elongated heating tube 28 mounted in the furnace 5. A reflux pump 29 maybe inter-ait posed in the return line 24 for the purpose 'of mechanically imposinga higher'pressure -on' the reflux being returned to the heating I tube 28. In some cases it may bedesirable;

to by-pass the pump, in whichevent the .1

valves 30lare closed and the valve 31opened.

by means of .the transfer line 32, in which is The reflux from'the heating tube 28 passes pressure upon said residue as it is being returned to'the heating tube 38. After passage through the heating tube 38, the residue may pass, by means of the transfer line 40, controlled by valve 41, into the expansion cham- The furnace 5 is preferably-of the side fired ty e, fired by means of the burners 42, which Furnace is divided into thecombustion chamber 43 and tube chamber 44 by means of the partition wall 45, the course of travel of the gases of combustion being designated by the arrow. It is, of course, understood that the drawing ismerely diagrammatic, and that the heating tubes 4, 28 and 38 may be mounted in separate furnaces; also that the design of the furnace itself may be changed without departing from the scope of the invention.

The process and apparatus of the present invention are extremely flexible in operation, as will be hereinafter more particularly brought out.

The essence of the present invention resides in the idea of subjecting the returned reflux condensate to the highest temperature, the raw oil to a temperature somewhat lower, which may, for instance, be referred to as an intermediate temperature, and the returned unvaporized residue to a still lower or lowest temperature. It is known that reflux condensate requires a much higher temperature for efficient conversion than the raw charging stock and the'unvaporized residue. The present invention combines in a single system a process and apparatus so designed that the reflux is subjected to the highest temperature, the raw oil to an intermediate temperature and the residue-to a lower temperature, all of said temperatures being so regulated and controlled as to operate under the most eflicient conditions. Thus, each division is subjected to its most eflicient temperature without overheating or underheating the constituents which make up the composite body. The regulation of temperature is for the purpose of converting relatively narrow boiling point fractions of oils so as to bring about maximum conversion at a lower average temperature than would prevail if the three oils were pansion chamber 8, will be materially reduced .in pressure and, due to its high heat," will yield a maximum amount ofvapors which are withdrawn throu h the vapor line- 9. A substantial amount ofl vaporization of the raw oil will also take place when it is introduced to the chamber 8 due to the reduction in pressure and the temperature to which it has been subjected.

It is, of course, understood that in some instances it will be desirable to maintain any two or three of the heating tubes 4, 28 and. 38 at substantially the same pressure. Fur ther, the entire system may be maintained under a uniform pressure, or differential pressuresemployed by manipulation of the valves and pumps shown.

The reflux may be cracked at that temperature and pressure at which it will be in the vapor phase, and the raw oil and residue may be cracked in the liquid-vapor phase or be heated at that temperature and pressure,

where the oil is all or substantially all in" liquid condition. The expanslon chamber 8 may be maintained at'the same pressure as the lowest pressure existing in any of the three tubes 4, 28 and 38, or it may be operated; at a lower the tubes.

An illustrative run of this process may be cited as follows: the raw charging stockintroduced through the line 1 may be heated toa temperature of, say 870 F. more or less and a pressure maintained thereon of, 'say', 300

pounds more or less in the tube 4. The raw 'oilheated to this temperature, u on being introduced to the expansion cham r 8 will separate into a maximum quantity of vapors to be withdrawn through the pipe 9. The

unvaporize.d residue may be 'withdrawn through the line 36, the valve 37 being opened and the valve 35 ,closed, and returned by means of the residue pump to the heating pressure than that preva ling in tube 38 Where it may be subjected to atemperatu're of, say, 800 F. more-or less and maintained under a pressure of, say, 250 pounds more or less. This residue is introduced to the expansion chamber 8 through the line 40 and will separate in the reaction .chamber into vapors and unvaporized resiblendedtogether for an equivalent perc'ent-= age of gasoline formation.

As a further feature of the invention, these due. The reaction chamber 8 may be maintained under pressure similar to the pressure maintained in the heating tube 38, namely 250 pounds, or it may be maintained under a lower pressure by manipulation of the valve 10. The reflux condensate collecting in the dephlegmator 11 may be returned through the line 24 and passed through theheating line 32 into the expansion chamber 8 where,

due to its sudden reduction froma pressure of, say 400 pounds more or less to a pressure of 250 pounds more or less, maintained in the chamber 8, it separates instantly into vapors and 'a small portion of unvaporized product.

By the present invention, it is obvious that I secure the beneficial results of combining the vapors from the reflux, raw oil and residue in the expansion chamber 8. It is also obvious that one of the advantages of the present invention is that the oil being subjected to the highest temperature will not precipitate a substantial amount of carbon in the tubes, and further, due to the separate heating, as described, the unvaporized residue which does precipitate substantial It is, of course, understood that the figures amounts of carbon is subjected to.t he lowest temperature. 4

used in the illustrative run are by no means arbitrary, and that these figures may be varied as determined by conditions of operation. z

I claim as my invention 1. A process of hydrocarbon oil conversion, comprising subjecting charging stock to the action of heat and super-atmospheric pressure to produce substantial vaporization, separating the vaporized portions from the unvaporized portions, subjecting the vaporized portions to reflux condensation, returning the reflux condensate and subjecting it to a higher temperature than that to which the charging stock'is subjected, in returning the unvapor version, 1n comblnation with separate chargized residue and subjecting it to a lower temperature than that to which the charging stock is subjected, and in introducing the heated charging stock, reflux condensate and residue into a common expansion zone.

2. A process of hydrocarbon oil conversion, comprising sub ecting charging stock to the 1 action of heat and superatmospheric press sure to produce substantial vaporization,

' separating the vaporized portions from the unvaporized portions, subjecting the vaporized portions to reflux condensation, returning the reflux condensate and subjecting it to, a higher temperature than that to which the charging stock is subjected, in returning the unvaporized residue and subjecting it to a lower temperature than that to which the charging stock is subjected, and in introducing the heated charging stock, reflux condensate and residue into a common expansion zone, maintaining diflerential pressures on the reflux condensate, charging stock and un-- vaporized residue while being subjected to said higher and lower temperatures.

to a higher temperature than that to which the charging stock is subjected, in returning the unvaporized residue and subjecting it to a lower temperature than that to which the charging stock is subjected, and in introducing the heated charging stock, reflux condensate and residue into a common expansion zone, maintaining said reflux condensate while being subjected to said higher temperature under a higher superatmospheric pressure than is maintained on' the charging stock and residue. v 4

4. A process of hydrocarbon oil conversion, comprising subjecting charging stock to the action o'f. heat and superatmospheric pressure to produce substantial vaporization, separating the vaporized portions from the unvaporized portionsfsubjecting the vaporized portions to'reflux condensation, returning the reflux condensate and subjecting it to ahigher temperature than that to which the charging stock is subjected, in returning the unvaporized residue and subjecting it to a lower temperature than that to which the charging stock is subjected, and in introducing the heated charging stock, reflux condensate and residue into a common expansion zone, maintaining said reflux condensate and said charging stock at a higher superatmospheric pressure while being subjected to heat than is maintained on the unvaporized residue.

apparatus for hydrocarbon oil coning stock, reflux and unvaporized residue heating tubesmounted in a heating zone, of

an expansion chamber communicating with said separate heating tubes, of'avapor draw- 01f from said expansion chamber, a dephlegmating means communicating with said latter vapor draw-ofi', means communicating be- I tween the dephlegmating means and the reflux heating tube, and means communicating between the expansion chamber and the unvaporized residue heating tube.

6. An apparatus for hydrocarbon oil conversion, in combination with separate chargorized residue heating tube, andmeans for maintaining difl'erential pressures on the above elements.

7. A hydrocarbon oil cracking process which comprises heating charging oil to cracking temperature under pressure, separating the vapors from the unvaporized oil, dephlegmating the vapors thereby forming reflux condensate, separately heating the reflux condensate and the unvaporized oil to cracking temperature, the"reflux condensate being heated to higher temperature than the charging oil and the unvaporized oil being heated to lowertemperature than the charging oil, combining the vapors released from the charging oil, reflux condensate and unvaporized oil, and condensing the commin-- gled vapors.

8. A hydrocarbon oil' cracking process which comprises heating charging oil to .cracking temperature under pressure, separating the vapors from the unvaporized oil, dephlegmating the vapors, thereby forniing reflux condensate, separately heating the reflux condensate to a vapor phase cracking temperature in excess of the temperature to which the charging oil is heated, separately heating the unvaporized oil to a cracking temperature lower than that to which the charging oil is subjected, combining the vapors of the cracked reflux condensate with the vapors evolved from the unvaporized oil, and condensing the c'ommingled vapors.

GUSTAV EGLOFF. 

